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What Happened to the Pedestrian Islands on Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen?
A few readers have written in asking about the disappearing pedestrian islands on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen. The concrete islands next to the bike lane shorten crossing distances and slow drivers turning onto Ninth Avenue. A few weeks ago, the city started tearing them out.
June 2, 2017
There’s a Great New Entryway to NYC’s Most Uncomfortable Bike-Ped Path
The new and improved entry path to the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade from Downtown Brooklyn is finally rideable. If the rest of the bridge path ever gets a widening and makeover to match this one, it will become one of the great walking and biking connections in New York.
May 22, 2017
NYC Businesses Losing Patience With DDC Plaza Construction Snafus
The same local business groups that publicly supported the city's plaza program often take a huge hit from the Department of Design and Construction's lengthy and unpredictable construction process.
February 3, 2017
8 Street Redesigns That DDC Is Still Taking Forever to Build
Across the city, capital projects overseen by the Department of Design and Construction consistently miss one deadline after another. But DDC Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora has not articulated specific obstacles to timely construction or laid out a plan to reform current practice.
January 12, 2017
Ritchie Torres Secures $12.3 Million for Bronx River Greenway Link
The project will fill in a missing link in the Bronx River Greenway between Starlight Park and Bronx River Park, while creating safer crossings at three complex intersections.
January 12, 2017
After Taking Forever to Build, These DDC Construction Projects Wrapped Up in 2016
Last January, we spotlighted 11 street redesign projects where the city's Department of Design and Construction had fallen years behind schedule. One year later, most of those projects are still not finished, but before we get to those, here are the long-delayed DDC projects that wrapped up in 2016.
January 10, 2017
The Times Square Plazas Are No Longer a Construction Zone
Before 2009, Times Square was a hellish place to walk. Pedestrians outnumbered vehicles nine to one but were confined to just 10 percent of the street space. The creation of car-free plazas on Broadway changed the equation, and now those plazas are a permanent fixture of the street.
January 3, 2017
Eyes on the Street: The New East Houston Street
The long-delayed reconstruction of East Houston Street between the Bowery and the FDR Drive is starting to round into form. Though the Department of Design and Construction won't wrap up the project until next year at the earliest, new medians and pedestrian areas between Avenue A and Chrystie Street are finally complete, and the transition to the First Avenue bike lane is no longer obstructed by construction.
October 3, 2016
Wider Sidewalks Coming to Flushing’s Crowded Main Street
Main Street in Flushing gets more foot traffic than anywhere else in New York after Times Square, but its sidewalks are too narrow to handle all those people. So later this month, the city will begin expanding the sidewalks on four blocks of Main Street, Council Member Peter Koo, DOT, and the Department of Design and Construction announced this afternoon.
July 19, 2016
Eyes on the Street: Pedestrians Get Room to Breathe at Astor Place
The redesign of Astor Place and Cooper Square, first unveiled in 2008, is nearly complete. The new layout greatly expands pedestrian space in an area with lots of foot traffic.
June 28, 2016
